Children 17 and under also will be admitted free with a paid adult.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda, a two-time champion at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, has committed to playing in the upcoming event alongside defending champion Lilia Vu, currently ranked second, and Lydia Ko, the hottest player in the world. Recent champions Ruoning Yin and Hannah Green, who’ve both won multiple events in 2024, round out the top 5 players coming to the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
The LPGA’s penultimate event of the season will take place Nov. 11-17, and the field will vie for a purse of $3.25 million, one of the largest on tour. Eight of the top 10 players in the world have committed to the field. With WNBA star Caitlin Clark playing in the pro-am alongside Sorenstam and Korda, it’s likely to be a blockbuster affair.
(R to L) Annika Sorenstam of Sweden presents the trophy to Lilia Vu of the United States on the 18th green after The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican at Pelican Golf Club on November 12, 2023 in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Pelican Golf Club reopened for play last Wednesday, one week after Hurricane Milton left much of the course flooded. The tournament announced on Monday that all military personnel (active, reserve, retired and veterans) and a plus-one will receive complimentary access to the championship, including access to a special exclusive hospitality venue – the Hero Outpost presented by FedData – overlooking the tournament’s signature par-3 12th hole.
Additionally, all first responders and one guest will receive free tickets to the 2024 championship. First responders will have access to an exclusive hospitality venue, the First Responders Outpost presented by Servepro, located on the par-4 16th green.
Children 17 and under also will be admitted free with a paid adult.
This will be the fifth edition of The Annika, which serves as the cutoff for finalizing status for the 2025 season as well as the field for the lucrative CME Group Tour Championship.
The area is estimated to have received 15 to 20 inches of rain.
Pelican Golf Club reopened for play Wednesday, one week after Hurricane Milton left much of the Belleair, Florida, course flooded. Remarkably, the show will go on at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican next month in the Tampa Bay area, and with WNBA star Caitlin Clark playing in the pro-am, it’s likely to be a blockbuster.
Last Thursday evening, when Director of Golf/COO Justin Sheehan stood in the middle of the 13th fairway, he wasn’t sure what to expect. The 13th was flooded from 100 yards out, including the green. The 16th green was underwater, as was half of the 10th, a two-tiered green. Everywhere he turned, something was flooded.
How long, he wondered, could the greens hold up under this much water? Would the bunkers cave in?
Incredibly, the water receded back to almost normal overnight, Sheehan said. It was actually more upsetting, however, to see what was left underneath.
“There were piles of pine straw 4 feet high,” he noted. “The bunker on No. 3 was completely filled with pine straw, couldn’t see an ounce of sand in there.”
The club lost 20 to 25 substantial trees as 100 mph winds ripped through the state. The area is estimated to have received 15 to 20 inches of rain.
Friday morning was an all-hands-on-deck effort led by Chris Corr, the club’s director of grounds. Members of the Doyle family, who own the club, came out to help as well as a number of club members, including juniors, who put on gloves and wielded rakes, shovels and leaf blowers.
This will be the fifth edition of The Annika, held Nov. 14-17. As the penultimate event on the LPGA schedule, The Annika is the cutoff for finalizing status for the 2025 season as well as the field for the lucrative CME Group Tour Championship.
Sei Young Kim won the first edition in 2020, and Nelly Korda won the next two. Last year, Lilia Vu capped off her breakout season at the Pelican with a fourth victory and rose to No. 1 in the world.
“It’s part of the fabric of this club,” said Sheehan of an event that has quickly rose to prominence on tour.
No doubt it will feel even more special this year as so many work hard to rebuild.
Photos: Pelican Golf Club
Take a look at some drone images taken Thursday evening, after the season’s second Category 5 hurricane wreaked havoc on Florida’s coast:
By Sunday, incredibly, the maintenance staff was able to mow the entire golf course.
Which top courses are open, which are still closed after Hurricane Milton?
Hurricane Milton had different impacts on various golf courses along its path across the Florida Peninsula last Wednesday and Thursday, and some courses have reopened fully while others are waiting for water to drain before welcoming players.
Many people are still suffering mightily after the storm, with more than 400,000 Florida residents still without power. Food and water are in short supply in the worst-hit areas, lines are out of hand at some gas stations and federal agencies are trying to help as thousands of electric crews race to turn back on the lights, refrigerators and air conditioners.
It can seem like a weird time to think about a game, but golf is big business in Florida, and many people’s livelihoods depend on golf as the state begins its recovery. The National Golf Foundation reports there are more than 1,200 courses in Florida that serve nearly 1.6 million players, with an economic impact of $8.2 billion in 2022. More than 132,000 people work in Florida’s golf industry.
The biggest problem for most golf courses wasn’t Milton’s winds so much as its water. Some places in Florida received nearly two feet of rainfall overnight, and several courses are still under water in places. It can take weeks for that much water to recede from a low-lying course. It was especially damaging as Milton struck just two weeks in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which inundated Florida’s western coast with storm surge and dumped huge volumes of rain across the peninsula before hammering into Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Flooding waters from Hurricane Milton surround the par-3 16th green at Forest Lake in Ocoee, Florida, near Orlando. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
As an example of water damage, this author received a close-up look at storm water Sunday on a round at the daily-fee Forest Lake Golf Club in Ocoee near Orlando. The course had standing water on many holes, deep enough to resemble ponds more than puddling. Course operators had cobbled together a new layout, playing one par 4 and one par 5 as par 3s to avoid saturated areas in fairways while they clean up after the storm and await water to recede. One par 3 across a pond was closed entirely as water had risen to surround the green like a moat and covered two-thirds of the putting surface. Players should expect to find such conditions at many courses across Florida as grounds crews work to restore normal playing conditions.
Hundreds of courses stretch along the path of Hurricane Milton. For a sampling of how those courses are doing after the storm, we checked on the layouts that appear in Golfweek’s Best rankings of public-access courses. These vary from daily-fee operations to huge resorts. Some have reopened with negligible effects from the storm, while others remain closed. At the bottom of this story is an update on several highly ranked private clubs, too.
Streamsong
Streamsong Red in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong/Evan Schiller)
Home to three highly ranked courses – the Red by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the Blue by Tom Doak, and the Black by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner – Streamsong received no major damage in the storm. The resort will reopen Tuesday after having been closed for several days as power was restored. The three courses on a former mining site feature very few trees to have blown down, and they were built atop huge piles of sand that expedited drainage. The Red is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 2 public-access course in Florida and ties for No. 37 among all modern courses in the U.S. The Blue is No. 3 in Florida and ties for No. 53 among modern courses, and the Black is No. 4 in Florida and ties for No. 67 among modern courses.
Bay Hill Club and Lodge
No. 17 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge (Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
Longtime home to the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Bay Hill in Orlando is still closed as it deals with flooding after Hurricane Milton. The club is waiting for water to recede – notably on the around-the-pond par-5 sixth hole and the downhill over-the-pond 17th – before announcing a reopening plan. The facility also suffered tree damage. Bay Hill ranks No. 6 among public-access courses in Florida. Bay Hill hopes to have its 9-hole course, The Challenger, opened in the next several days.
Innisbrook
The Copperhead (Courtesy of Innisbrook Resort)
The home of the Copperhead Course – longtime site of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship – is in Palm Harbor, just west of Tampa and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. The resort has posted on its website that limited dining options have reopened. The resort features four golf courses: Copperhead, Island, North and South. Of those four, nine holes reopened Monday. Those nine are a compilation of holes on the North and South courses. The Copperhead – ranked No. 9 among all public-access courses in Florida – has not reopened, and a timeframe is not mentioned on the resort’s website.
Southern Dunes
Southern Dunes (Courtesy of Southern Dunes)
The Steve Smyers layout southwest of Orlando in Haines City lost a few trees, but the course reopened Saturday with minimal damage. Southern Dunes sits on rolling sand dunes, which helps tremendously with drainage. Southern Dunes ranks No. 14 among all public-access courses in Florida.
PGA Golf Club
PGA Golf Club’s Dye Course (Montana Pritchard/The PGA of America)
PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie on Florida’s eastern coast – home to three courses ranked among the top 30 public-access layouts in the state – has reopened two of those courses, Dye (ranked No. 17) and Ryder (No. 30). The resort’s Wannamaker course (ranked No. 18) was closed well before the storm for a renovation, and it is scheduled to reopen in November as planned. A handful of holes on the two open courses are cart-path-only as the facility continues to dry out.
Orange County National
Panther Lake at Orange County National in Florida (Courtesy of Orange County National)
Home to two courses among the top 30 in the state, Panther Lake (No. 23) and Crooked Cat (tied for No. 27), this Winter Garden facility just west of Orlando reopened Friday after the storm. The property’s massive circular driving range was humming with business Saturday, as usual.
Celebration
Celebration Golf Club (Courtesy of Celebration)
Ranked No. 29 among public-access courses in Florida, this course southwest of Orlando is still closed after Milton. The club has posted on social media that it hopes to reopen Wednesday, as water continues to drain. Golfers can check the club’s Facebook page for more information and updates.
Grand Cypress
A longtime Central Florida golf icon, Grand Cypress is home to two courses – the Cypress and the Links – at the new Evermore resort southwest of Orlando next to Disney World. The Cypress is open for play now, while the Links is slated to reopen Tuesday as stormwater recedes. Formerly known as the New Course, the renamed Links ties for No. 30 among all public-access courses in Florida.
Private clubs
Belleair near Tampa shortly after a restoration of the Donald Ross-designed course by Jason Straka (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Calls to several top-rated private courses in especially hard-hit areas, such as Mountain Lake in Lake Wales and The Concession in Bradenton, went unanswered. Belleair, just west of Tampa along the Intracoastal Waterway, lost dozens of trees on its two courses, and its recently restored West Course reopened Monday while its East Course will take a few more days. Nearby, Pelican Golf Club – home to the LPGA’s The Annika Driven by Gainbridge scheduled for Nov. 14-17 – plans to reopen Wednesday.
The Tournament of Champions celebrity pro-am could use another female participant.
Caitlin Clark has joined sports icons Billie Jean King and Annika Sorenstam as a Gainbridge brand ambassador, the financial services company announced. The partnership means Clark-mania might be soon coming to the LPGA.
The Iowa basketball player, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer who is revolutionizing the women’s game, is slated to compete in the pro-am at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican later this season, schedule permitting.
The Annika, the penultimate event on the LPGA’s schedule, is slated for Nov. 14-17 this season at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. World No. 1 Lilia Vu won last year’s edition for her fourth title of the season.
The Gainbridge announcement comes in concert with the company’s launch of its new product, ParityFlex, a multi-year guaranteed annuity product created for women, by women.
“I am honored to be part of the company’s deepening commitment to advancing opportunities for women, on and off the court, and to help promote this visionary new product for women,’’ said Clark in a release.
Clark recently announced that she’ll forgo her final season in Iowa to enter the WNBA draft. The Indiana Fever has the first pick, and tickets to watch the franchise next season have already doubled in price, according to VividSeats.
The lowest ticket price available to watch Clark play Ohio State on Sunday was $491, a record for women’s basketball.
Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark. (Photo: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports)
“It’s an honor to have Caitlin join us on Team Gainbridge,” said King in a release. “She is an amazing talent on the court, but more importantly, she puts her team ahead of herself and is a leader, an agent of change and a champion on and off the court. Thanks to Gainbridge for once again stepping up and showing their commitment to being a leader in women’s sports.”
On March 10, Clark’s signature will be included on the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda driven by Colton Herta on Indycar and the No. 77 Group 1001 Camaro driven by Corey Lajoie on Nascar.
Caitlin Clar and Ludvig Aberg walk to the fifth hole during the pro-am ahead of the 2023 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run. (Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Last summer, Clark created a frenzy at the John Deere Classic Pro-Am when she played alongside Zach Johnson and Ludvig Aberg.
“Honestly, I played (golf) when I was a little kid,” said Clark during a John Deere press conference. “Started golfing with my dad, but then I didn’t play much all throughout high school. Then kind of started again in college. I obviously am pretty busy, so I don’t get to golf as much as I would like.”
Clark enjoys teeing it up with her Iowa teammates and, not surprisingly, they like to keep it competitive, usually playing a quick nine or 12 holes. She also attended the 2017 Solheim Cup, won by Team USA, at Des Moines Golf and Country Club.
Perhaps the Gainbridge pro-am will serve as a warm-up to a bigger commitment. The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions celebrity pro-am could use another female participant.
Lilia Vu earned $487,500 for her fourth win of the 2023 season.
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Lilia Vu crossed the $4 million mark in career earnings after collecting her fourth victory of 2023 at The Annika driven by Gainbridge. Vu earned $487,500 for her three-stroke triumph, bringing her season earnings to $3,252,303. The Annika featured one of the highest non-major purses of the season at $3.25 million.
Seventy-eight percent of Vu’s career earnings have been made this season. The two-time major winner now leads the LPGA money list with one event remaining. Next week’s CME Group Tour Championship boasts a purse of $7 million and a winner’s check of $2 million.
Check out how much money each LPGA player earned this week at The Annika:
Everything you need to know from a busy Sunday at Pelican Golf Club.
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Lilia Vu rose to No. 1 in the world and took the lead in the Rolex LPGA Player of the Year race when she came from three strokes back to win by three at Pelican Golf Club on Sunday.
Vu, a two-time major winner this season, gave her winner’s press conference right next to Annika Sorenstam, tournament host for the newly renamed Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
It always bummed Vu that she didn’t win The Annika Award for college player of year while at UCLA.
“I’m finally super excited to win something with your name on it,” said Vu, who actually won the Rolex Annika Major Award this year, too.
But while much attention is given to the top of the leaderboard, and rightly so, there’s always so much drama going on further down as players vie for a chance to play at CME and keep their cards.
Two of the biggest names who didn’t make the 60-player field in Naples, Florida, include defending champion Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson, reminding us once again of how quickly things can turn.
Here are five storylines from a sun-splashed Sunday in Florida, where so much was on the line:
BELLEAIR, Florida – There’s really no other tournament on the LPGA schedule quite like this one. Everyone, it seems, has something to play for that’s bigger than this week. Whether it’s Player of the Year points, a chance to tee it up at CME for a $7 million purse or the fight to keep a tour card, there’s no shortage of storylines at the newly renamed Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
Lexi Thompson, for example, needs to finish in at least a share of third to have a chance to qualify for CME. She’s currently T-12. Patty Tavatanakit came into this week 61st on the CME points list. The top 60 and ties will play next week in Naples, Florida, at the CME Group Tour Championship. The major champ is currently T-4 and projected to jump to 50th.
Emily Kristine Pedersen came into the week 80th on the CME points list. The top 80 on tour have Category 1 status, which means they’ll get into the limited-field Asian events next spring. Pedersen didn’t come to Belleair just to hang on, however. The surprise Solheim Cup pick who delivered in Spain is enjoying her best week on tour with a three-stroke lead after rounds of 63-65-64.
Sunday at Pelican promises to be a shootout. Here are five things to know from a red-hot day:
Time is running out for players like Patty Tavatanakit. The top 60 players and ties on the Race to CME Globe points list qualify for the season-ending championship, and this week’s Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican is the final event before the list is finalized.
Tavatanakit, who currently sits 61st on the points list, opened with a 7-under 63 on a picture-perfect day at Pelican Golf Club to hold a share of the lead with former No. 1 Jin Young Ko.
“I’ve been like preparing for this event,” said Tavanatakit, the 2021 ANA Inspiration winner. “Obviously I knew what I had to do. I’m pretty stressed, but at the same time, I feel like I did everything under my control. I did everything with no regrets.”
The CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club offers the largest non-major purse on the LPGA at $7 million. The CME winner receives $2 million.
There are a number of high-profile major winners currently on the outside looking in. Here’s a list of bubble players as well as some stars who need a big week:
BELLEAIR, Florida – Nelly Korda first met Annika Sorenstam at the LPGA legend’s namesake AJGA event. Like many in this week’s LPGA field, Korda’s first recollection of Sorenstam is her putting on a junior clinic. Today’s players can quite literally …
BELLEAIR, Florida – Nelly Korda first met Annika Sorenstam at the LPGA legend’s namesake AJGA event. Like many in this week’s LPGA field, Korda’s first recollection of Sorenstam is her putting on a junior clinic. Today’s players can quite literally play in events around the world that bear Sorenstam’s name. The college player of the year wins the Annika Award; the player who fares the best at the LPGA majors each year wins the Rolex Annika Major Award.
It’s only fitting then, that one of the premiere stops on the LPGA schedule now bears her name, too. The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, which started in 2020 but was rebranded this year, boasts one of the biggest purses on the LPGA schedule outside the majors at $3.25 million and a stacked field.
“I think it’s important to have history involved in the current game,” said former No. 1 Stacy Lewis. “I think it’s important for these girls to know the players that have come before them.”
While other LPGA greats have had their names on events throughout the history of the tour – the Betsy King Classic, the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, the Babe Zaharias Open, to name a few – Sorenstam’s is the only current event that carries a player’s name.
“I love to see these young girls living their dream,” said Sorenstam. “I’ve seen some from 16 years back, whether it’s Nelly Korda, Alison Lee, Leona Maguire.”
Of the 120 players in the field this week, 57 have competed in Sorenstam’s events, including the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, which Sorenstam co-hosts with fellow Swede Henrik Stenson. Eight of the top 10 players in the world are there this week, including two-time defending champion Nelly Korda and the three players vying for Rolex Players of Year: Celine Boutier, Lilia Vu and Ruoning Yin.
On the PGA Tour, events hosted by Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and the late Arnold Palmer are the gold standard in the men’s game.
A lot on the line @theANNIKAlpga, so don't miss any of the action‼️
Sorenstam wants the same at Pelican, an exclusive Tampa-area club whose membership includes Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. Sorenstam, of course, is Augusta National’s newest member.
“It starts everywhere from, I mean, parking lot, right, to locker room, to practice area, to lunch, everything that they somewhat touch,” said Sorenstam. “Sometimes it’s really small things you might not think about, like you said.
“So I like to listen and learn from them. At the end of the day, we want the players to go home and say, I’m coming back and I’m bringing so and so with them.”
Annika Sorenstam strolls the range at her new namesake event on the LPGA. (courtesy photo)
South Carolina junior Louise Rydqvist won the Annika Intercollegiate in Minnesota earlier this year to earn a spot in this week’s field. Rydqvist has grown up playing in Sorenstam’s events, starting with the Annika Cup in Sweden. Rydqvist went to high school with Solheim Cup players Linn Grant and Maja Stark – and Ryder Cupper Ludvig Aberg – and has the same swing coach as another member of Suzann Pettersen’s team, Madelene Sagstrom.
Rydqvist, who is also getting an advanced look at where the SEC Championship will be played next spring, learned that a victory at the Annika Intercollegiate came with an LPGA exemption when she read about it on the drive to the course before the final round.
Rydqvist’s prep work for this week’s event included a chat with the host herself on Sorenstam’s SiriusXM radio show, where they talked about strategy.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Rydqvist of the opportunity that’s before her.
Sorenstam won the inaugural Betsy King Classic in 1996 and backed it up with a victory in 1997. She also won the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship twice, which was hosted by Nancy Lopez.
This week, she hopes to have a similar impact to what some of the game’s greatest had on her.
“I think the purpose of this event is to inspire the next generation, whether it’s Linn Grant in there or whoever it might be,” said Sorenstam.
“You hope they’re going to see an event like this, or event like Nancy’s, that hopefully one day they want to follow in the same footsteps, and pay forward or bring the game to the next level and just inspire some young girl or boy down the road. I think that’s really what to me these type of events mean. It’s elevating them to a level we haven’t seen before. Not just the quality of the course, the food, and the partnerships, but the memories, how it touches your heart. When you leave here, what do you feel.”
“Before I was kind of blind going to a putting green. I did it myself,” Korda said.
Nelly Korda comes to Annika Sorenstam’s namesake event on the LPGA hoping to do something the LPGA legend accomplished twice in her career: win an event three years in a row.
Korda’s last victory on the LPGA came last year at Pelican Golf Club, where she beat fellow Floridian Lexi Thompson by a stroke. Two years ago, Korda triumphed in a sudden-death playoff over Lydia Ko, 2020 champion Sei Young Kim and Thompson. Korda was not in the field in 2020 due to a back injury sustained at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
The penultimate event on the LPGA calendar was renamed The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican for 2023 and features a purse of $3,250,000. Sorenstam won the McDonald’s LPGA Championship from 2003 to 2005 and the Mizuno Classic from 2001 to 2005. Inbee Park was the last player to win three consecutive events at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship from 2013-15.
“To three-peat, obviously there is pressure that I want to perform,” said Korda, “but I try not to think about it.”
Korda was grinding on the practice green Tuesday with putting instructor Eric Dietrich. The pair first began working together around the Solheim Cup, and she has since switched her grip and her putter. Korda said she feels more organized after making the move to Dietrich.
“Felt like I just have a plan now, or I have tendencies that I know about that I can always go into a drill and kind of work on those tendencies,” said Korda.
“Where before I was kind of blind going to a putting green. I did it myself.”
Korda has switched from a left-hand low grip back to a conventional grip. She also began using a mallet putter for the first time in her career at the LPGA stop in South Korea last month.
“Honestly, I haven’t been putting bad,” she said. “I’ve been in contention a bunch this year. It’s just I want to improve. I want to improve in every part of my game, and I just thought this was a necessary change to that.”
Korda has a 65.571 scoring average at Pelican through seven rounds. The grass, the weather, the fact that her family can drive to watch her compete all factor into her success here. The eight-time LPGA winner has eight top-10 finishes this season. She took a month off midseason to nurse a lower back injury.
“I talked about it a couple times like where the beginning of the year golf felt in a sense like I don’t want to take it for granted,” she said, “but it felt easy, top 10-ing, playing well, and being in contention.
“Then I got injured and just felt hard to get back into that flow. I somehow like had a hard time finding it, so that’s kind of why I brought Eric in. And with Jamie (Mulligan), we’re all working really hard on my entire game. Hopefully, we can continue improving, but it’s more about the consistency.”
